And the Music Plays On
by Liv Pierce
Summary: I was tagged in the iPod shuffle challenge that's been going around. Here's my attempt at it, with a twist. More details on the flip side. Not finished. Dasey.
1. Coyotes

**A/n: So, here's my twist: I couldn't stop myself once I started. I really tried, but it just wasn't happening, so I continued the drabbles. For the challenge's sake I added dashes (a long, quite obvious set) to where the drabble should have stopped had I followed the rules. Of course, my drabbles are Dasey, so I'm breaking rules just writing these things. I might as well break them all, right? This is part one of 10…the rest will be coming shortly.**

**Disclaimer: Still looking for the most creative way to deny ownership of LWD. **

Coyotes—Jason Mraz

It was nearly two in the afternoon and Derek Venturi had just woke up. It had been a long night, last night. His typical Friday night of party, drinks, and girls. Normally he could find one girl to have hang on him all night, but he seemed to have a problem with his mouth. Every other word out of it had been about Casey, his stepsister Casey. He didn't really know what had come over him to talk about her as much as he did, it just happened. Apparently his talk kept scaring off girl after girl.

He knew better than to stay out much past midnight, even on a Friday. He did want to have the next Friday at his disposal, after all. Reason flew out the window when he heard tell of another party going on in another neighborhood. It didn't interest him much, until Sam mentioned that Casey was there. Casey wasn't one for the party scene, typically, but she had just broken up with Max for the third time and this time it seemed to stick. And Casey had been looking for a way to distract her sorrows. Derek knew Casey was a logical person, he also knew that she didn't drink, normally. But she had seemed desperate lately for anything that would remove her mind from Max Miller. -- -- -- -- -- -- --It only took a couple of seconds for Derek to decide that Casey and parties probably weren't the best mix at the moment and it was up to him to do something about it. Who knew that Derek with a buzz could quickly become Derek with a mission?

It didn't take him long to spot the party house once he finally got to the neighborhood (Sam's directions had been spotty at best). The Prince's engine had barely died before he was hopping out of the car and racing up the walk to the house. He spotted Casey instantly, sitting next to the keg, a red plastic cup clenched in her hand. It couldn't have been a better opportunity to approach her. Under the pretense of getting a drink, Derek approached Casey.

"Heya, Case. Imagine seeing you here." He said in an overly bright manner, as he placed a cup under the tap.

"Go 'way, Derek." Her response was almost nearly a moan and he could tell getting her away from the drink was going to be hard. He hadn't even thought about sneaking her into the house drunk yet.

"What 'cha doing here, Princess? Parties aren't your thing, remember?" He was doing his best to grab and keep her attention, hoping the old pet name would garner some sort of response. Even the detested name did no good. The most he got out of her was a lazy swat of the hand, as if she were trying to shoo him away. And a sloppy attempt to drink more of the amber liquid in her cup.

"Come on, Case, let's go home." He stood from the sitting position he had adopted in his attempt to get her to talk and held out a hand, international symbol of offering help.

"Nu-uh." She muttered and he wondered if she realized how much she behaved like a two year old when drunk. "Wan' stay here. Go 'way Derek." She whined quietly. Somewhere in her brain, though, logic was still working and she reached a hand out to him. Not one to miss an opportunity, he grabbed her wrist and held on tight.

Fighting his own dull buzz, Derek led the stepsister who had been on his mind out of the house and to the Prince carefully and slowly. Carefully because if Casey was Klutzilla when sober, she was King Kong Klutzilla when drunk and slowly, well, Derek didn't really have a reason for that one. Except for some reason his arm around her waist and her head leaning against his shoulder were two feelings he didn't want rushed.

The rest of the night had been a blur. He remembered slightly pulling into the garage and helping Casey into the house, shushing her giggles about sneaking _into_ the house. He remembered her getting into her bed and him pulling the blankets up around her. He also remembered kissing her forehead before he left the room. He had assumed she was asleep. Judging by the annoyed look on her face that he couldn't help but smirk at as he sipped his coffee, she hadn't been.


	2. Sleeping to Dream About You

**A/n: Alright, same goes for this installment. I couldn't bring myself to stop, so the dashes are back. **

**Disclaimer: See the previous installment…or nearly any fan fiction for that matter.**

Sleeping to Dream—Jason Mraz

Was it bad that all Casey really wanted to do most of the time was sleep? Was it so bad that she preferred sleep to dinner? She wasn't depressed. In fact there were times where she was still her downright peppy self. No one but Lizzie seemed to notice exactly when she wanted to sleep most and when she was her peppiest.

Lizzie had a theory about her big sister's odd new habits, a theory that involved her older stepbrother. Derek had started dating Sally a couple of weeks before Lizzie's theory began to form. His dating Sally coincidentally coincided with the beginning of Casey's odd behavior. If Sally was at the house, it was nearly always a given that Casey would be found in her room, drifting in and out of sleep. If Derek was alone, or at least, if Sally wasn't around, Casey was in full swing being her Casey self. Things seemed nearly normal when Sally wasn't around. Of course, a lot of the time that Sally wasn't at the house that meant Derek wasn't either and Casey would go off to her room, claiming to not have slept much the night before. Lizzie wasn't stupid. It was easy enough to put two and two together. But she wanted to know one thing. Why sleep? -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Why didn't Casey just ignore the fact that the guy she liked was with another girl? Lizzie had seen her do it time and again with other guys.

"Casey?"

"Liz, I'm trying to sleep. Can whatever it is wait until later?"

"Not really. That's why I'm here. I want to know something."

"What is it, Liz?" Casey's arm was thrown over her eyes and she was stretched out across her bed. She didn't move, even when she felt the bed shift under the added weight of Lizzie.

"Why are you sleeping so much? And don't say you haven't been sleeping well. I've checked on you every night this week and your always sound asleep. I know it's got something to do with Derek, so what is it?"

Casey lay perfectly still for what seemed like forever to Lizzie. Just as she was about to tell her to forget it, Casey moved her arm and looked her little sister in the eye.

"When I sleep I can dream. And when I dream they're all about him. He's always with Sally now. This way I can have him and he can be happy, too."


End file.
